ENTER SHIKARI
SEPTEMBER 2023
*No Cassyette
**Festival Date
***Mexico Headline Date
September 14 - Kansas City, MO - Record Bar
September 15 - St Louis, MO - Delmar Hall
September 18 - Grand Rapids, MI - Pyramid Scheme
September 19 - Detroit, MI - El Club
September 21 - Columbus, OH - Skully's Music Diner
September 22 - Louisville, KY - Louder Than Life Festival**
September 23 - Birmingham, AL - Furnace Fest**
September 24 - Baton Rouge, LA - Chelsea's Live*
September 27 - San Antonio, TX - Paper Tiger*
September 29 - Mexico City, MX - Foro Indie Rocks!***
September 30 - Guadalajara, MX - C3 Stage***
ENTER SHIKARI have a way with opening statements and as their new album begins with the words “Be embraced, billions” (‘A Kiss for the Whole World x’), we immediately learn plenty about the band's ambition for this album to touch people.
Its trio of whirlwind single releases to date have reignited dormant sparks '(pls) set me on fire' confronted how we measure self-worth ('It Hurts') and eyed the trappings of cyclical mistakes (‘Bloodshot’). Journeying through the new album, we are met with calls to revel in the power of spontaneity, (‘Leap Into The Lightning’), encouraged to explore (‘Jailbreak’), and - most poignantly - asked to consider the changing nature of identity (‘giant pacific octopus’).
A Kiss for the Whole World heralds the band's most vibrant, direct and life-affirming album so far.
Praise for Enter Shikari's new album A Kiss for the Whole World:
"Enter Shikari reassert their credentials as one of the UK's most important rock bands." - Upset ★★★★★
“A Kiss For The Whole World might just be its authors' finest work yet. Rooted in the present, somehow it is still the sound of the future.” - Louder ★★★★ ½
“These are anthems of liberation for what seems an eternal uncertainty that we live in.” – Clash ★★★★
"There is an explosive exuberance at the heart of Enter Shikari's superb seventh album." - Kerrang! ★★★★
“As hopeful as they’ve ever sounded” - NME ★★★★
“Here is an album that sees Shikari proving exactly why they’ve carved their own place in UK music royalty.” - Rolling Stone UK★★★★
"When it comes to combining rave, metal and pop craftsmanship in songs that come with self-help messages and moral guidelines, nobody beats [Enter Shikari]" - The Times
More about Enter Shikari and new album A Kiss For The Whole World
As the calendar now signals three years since Enter Shikari last released an album - their UK #2 charting album Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible – it is useful to think back to the final question the band last posed fans: “Is this a new beginning? / Or are we close to the end?” Little could they know just how close to the end things would end up feeling as the events of the early ‘20s dimmed the light in the furnace of their live juggernaut, and connection to their fans. “At the time it felt like we ourselves, as musicians, were experiencing the death of our band,” says lead vocalist and keyboardist Rou Reynolds.
Unsurprisingly, the key in the band’s ignition came in the form of a live show as they headlined the Download Festival Pilot in front of 10,000 fans. Where not a single new word flowed from the pen of Reynolds in the two years prior, a realisation was born that would come to define the band’s seventh LP: “I just didn’t realise that the human and physical connection to other people were so central to how I write,” he says. Enter Shikari isn’t just four people – it’s hundreds of thousands.
The album's lead single "(pls) set me on fire" sparked the next stage in the band’s evolution, and the first words we hear from Enter Shikari 2.0 don’t come in the form of a question this time, but a command: “Please set me on fire”. In other words, ignite the spark inside us and set us free. This may be a new Enter Shikari but they’ve lost nothing in their flair for bold opening gambits.
Reynolds comments on the single’s conception: "Honestly, I thought I was f*****. I’ve never felt so detached from my soul, my purpose, my f****** spirit. I didn’t write music for almost two years. The longest I’d gone before that was two weeks. I was broken. It’s almost as if my brain had asked: “What is the point in music if it cannot be shared? What is the point in writing music if it’s not to be experienced with others?” and then promptly switched itself off. ‘(pls) set me on fire’ grew out of that desperation. This song is a projectile vomit of positive energy. Every emotion trapped inside me for two years, finally set free."
It was in the Spring of 2022 that the band descended to the coastal town of Chichester, and a delipidated farmhouse, to rebuild their studio setup and capture their renewed momentum on record. Using only solar power to track the album – in what Reynolds says was to “bring back some sense of naivety” – the life-giving properties and Technicolor palate of A Kiss For The Whole World were made real. Reynolds continues: “Back to basics. This band - my best friends - bundled into an old farmhouse, miles away from anywhere. Off-grid, and ready to rediscover ourselves. This album is powered by the sun, the most powerful object in our solar system. And I think you can tell. It’s a collection of songs that represent an explosive reconnection with what Enter Shikari is. The beginning of our second act”.
More about Enter Shikari
5 UK top ten albums
2 UK top 40 singles
2 BRIT certified silver albums and 1 BRIT certified gold album
Multiple Kerrang! award winners, AIM Award winners and Heavy Music Award winners
3000 shows worldwide
Download full biography HERE
Find Enter Shikari Online
www.entershikari.com
